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I referenced a grilled sandwich incident in the S’mores post. I am a big fan of grilled sandwiches, especially grilled cheese sandwiches. The hooligans love them too. Grilled cheese sandwiches are the topic of one of their favorite songs. My grilled cheese making abilities have definitely been on a journey and I am proud to say that my skills have greatly improved.

Let’s travel in the way back machine to when I was in 8th grade (yes, that was A LOT of years ago). I was babysitting for my cousin. Feeding her was typically quite easy- make a batch of Mac ‘n’ Cheese and some of Bill Cosby’s favorite Jello pudding that you shake up in the mixing cup. Then we could get back to playing Barbies or Candyland or doing cartwheels. Then one day, she changed the plan. She wanted a GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH.

This should have been easy… if I had taken Home Ec the previous year. If only they had Google or YouTube back in the day. I was confident I could wing it and make a faux version that would pass. Common, she was a preschooler… do they really know the different. (ANSWER: Yes, this was the day I learned you don’t mess with a preschooler when it comes to food). So I set forth making my mock version of a grilled cheese.

I made two pieces of toast, buttered one side each, and put a slice of American Cheese in between them. I then popped the sandwich in the microwave and turned the dial to 30 seconds. Half a minute late, SHAZAM! a melted cheese on toast sandwich. She was not impressed! She refused to eat it. It was not a REAL grilled cheese sandwich.

What do you do in a crisis, call your BFF- you know, the one who actually took home ec. Thankfully, she was home answered the phone and was willing to walk me through grilling the sandwich- in a frying pan. A big shout out for Jr. High besties!

Since that day I have continued to work on my sandwich grilling technique. Every once in a while a sandwich gets sacrificed and gets a bit extra toasty. (Confession: sometimes I do this on purpose. I like them a bit on the burnt side. This is how I tag the sandwich as mine). The grilled cheese, the breakfast grilled cheese (add scrambled eggs), and even the international version- the quesadilla, are now staples in meal planning.